Scarlet Robe Creations

Let yourself enter this scene. The apostles are gathered around, maybe there's a small fire, the night might have a slight chill.  They're sharing the remnants of bread and fish.  I imagine there is some laughter, celebrating over the wonders they have been witness to.  They have just seen five thousand people feast on five loafs and two fishes.  They've been filled by a miracle of God.  They have been present at the calming of the storm and the healing of an official's daughter. And as their joyful chatter subsides for a brief moment, Jesus says, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"  The day had been so long.  We were tired, yet filled with an excited energy.  Jesus preached, we listened and the crowds gathered.  With all that we have seen to this point, I... we still had our doubts.  The day was growing toward evening.  The time was getting short for all these people to return to the shelter of their homes.  They were hun...

To the crowd gathering in His midst, "I am the light". And darkness tries to hide. He offers, opening the palms of His hands, a way in from the shadows. To the crowd is promised no more darkness. Separate your hearts from the world of sin. No longer should the shadows be loved. Your deeds are already shown, forgiveness is yours to accept. To the crowd bathed in beatitudes on the side of a hill, "You are the light." Hide nothing of God, place His light where it may be seen, light the world with Him and darkness will cringe. Inspired by John 8:12 & Matthew 5:14 copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

Some tell me it's a book of stories contradictory to each other. A hundred fables thrown into a volume, much like any other book with the same purpose. Some let it set collecting dust on a table top displayed, so others might think it is often read. Some never leaf through the pages or sing one song within. They who who have no guide, who say they don't need crutches. Some open the book often and see each passage as an act of love. They are the wheat, who acknowledge their need for contradiction. copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

The piece of wood has been stripped of its bark. Pine, oak, maple, it matters little. We all must come when beckoned. The wood is shaped by a saw, a chisel and plane. It is no more what it was, but what it has become. The carpenter assigns shape, texture, color. The fibers will build a table or chairs a shelter or a cross. Unfinished is a state of grace. Submitting our essence to the will of other. The will of He who uses a chisel to bore out my sins. copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

The message we have heard, a song sung to a child through love. Notes, filling us with melody, taking us into an emotional union with the heart of God. I will sing His song today and tomorrow. It's verses will be ever on my tongue. He calls out and I answer. I am here to offer praise, despite my bruises and scars, promising to change in lieu of my failures. copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

So he was the talk of the dusty streets.  Many had come to listen to this man of little education, a carpenter by trade.  I have to admit though, the things he has said must have come from God.  His words do not ridicule or chastise, as most of our laws.  His words are compassionate and the people, we take upon ourselves to lead spiritually, flock to him. I saw him out in the fields, a few days ago, this man who does not dress like any of the temple leaders.  He holds himself with authority, wearing garments of the poor.  His followers claim he is more than just a man.  They say they have witnessed miracles.  Demons have been ripped free from tormented souls.  A paralytic has been raised to his feet and given the power to walk and dance. I realize these claims may be exaggerations.  Still, I find myself, as do the others of my sect, drawn into the crowd with a desire to listen to his voice. So when master Simon extended the in...

Originally Submitted to https://christianwriters.com/ You are the audience which pays me for tricks. Have you not heard of my reputation? I can perform whatever it is that you ask. But I prefer that you listen to what I say and pay little attention to what I do. My words, print on paper mean so much more than the blind gaining sight. You seek physical manifestations while I wait for your spiritual acceptance. There is no miracle greater than my thoughts. So don't expect me to stand on a stage and make the paralytic walk. Don't expect me to come down from my cross with my wounds healed. It is not your body that I come seeking to embrace, but your heart. copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

Anton Raphael Mengs - St. John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness The wilderness embraces me. Sand and rocks surround my feet. The heat bakes my flesh. It is here, I stand in communion with Yahweh .   I have sought solitude for my entire life,  casting off the temple duties of my father  to become a nomad.   I feast daily on locusts  and the wild fluids of nature.   I hear the creator's voice  and I know He hears me. The Lord tells me  it is time to come out from the dessert.   He,  who I have waited for  since the days in my mother's womb,  is ready to claim the course of his life.   I must make straight  the path he is to follow and beckon the repentant to the Jordan's shore. I must journey from the solitude of the wilderness to the persecution of the world. copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author...

Behold the beauty of life. As the sunflower turns its face to the body of light in the sky, you too should turn towards your father, to seek nourishment. Behold the beauty of this world. What was once a seed has grown in full bloom to worship the light, lifting its spirit from the darkness, to ease its hunger. copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

The road for the journey smells of the past, all the years of our God's promise to free his people, Israel. A road of dust and stone, traveled on by a father, and then his children and their children in search of soil we speak of deserving. A road of flesh and blood, cut deep into the earth by the voices of prophets, scarred by the sandals of Roman dominance, perfumed by the hope of coming salvation. copyright 1993 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author From the collection 'An Advent Journey' https://www.amazon.com

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” Isaiah 52:7 (ESV) The Prophet Isaiah (Bible Card from 1904) There is a shout from the mountain, a herald calls out to the captives. He is coming to proclaim a victory, won for those who know of love and long to dwell in its embrace. The messenger announces good news, a new way. A life in the spirit, no longer of the flesh. A life of peace not war. I listen to him shout. My soul clings to every word. How marvelous the works of this Lord who stoops down to touch my brow. copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

They cheated those people, they who see themselves as justified. Once they were kings and Pharisees controlling the poor and uneducated with superstitions, rituals and laws. Today they are politicians with vile serpent like tongues and tempting lies. They cheated those people in the Messiah's day as in the present. Convincing the underclass of society that they lack value compared to those who forge decrees and interpret doctrine for their own use. Today we divide by origin, or shade of flesh. We stand for this truth or that fallacy, always right and never wrong. Remember always, He came for the abused, He came for the overburdened, He came for those humbled by a diseased culture. He came for those who did not expect Him to look in their direction. And the pious, the cheaters, could do nothing but watch. copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr  https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

Turn towards me, I am constant. My gaze is always upon you. Step out of the shadows and into the light of my being, come home to me. I am waiting. Sometimes you choose to leave me in the background, thinking you will face me when the time is of your own choosing. I beckon you now and leave you with a choice. I will not force you to love me, although I adore you. If turning in my direction causes you to face the harshness of your life, I will be there at your side. I am always the father on the crest of the hill waiting for his son to return. So please turn back, knowing in your heart that I have never turned away. Give me the fabric of your withered heart and allow me to turn it into flesh. copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

Peace deep in the fibers of my soul. I come to prayer with my guitar in hand and sing songs expressing the calm in my heart. Give us peace when we tire from the struggle. Give us warm bodies to embrace, those You have brought into our lives with special purpose. Give us health when sickness weakens us. Give us a longing for Your touch, the promise of salvation, to shelter us in the night. Peace, I rest in a safe haven, where You protect my soul from all that hinders. copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

It is here that I find a place to rest on a grassy knoll where the river flows gently. The subtle voice of the creator speaks with more clarity when the world has given way to silence. It is here that I come to seek peace, in the quiet solitude of time passed. An oasis from the desert of the mundane, where faith permeates my soul in contemplation. copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

"Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees" Blind guides standing the shadows of hypocrisy. Loading heavy burdens on the shoulders of my children, causing them to stumble beneath the weight of your own ordained crosses, not mine. Stand up from your seats of judgement. You are less than those subjected to your misinterpreted laws. You have no right to condemn, or forgive. You are the false prophets, spoken of when the truth was first known. Blind guides, the veil was torn long ago, when the sacrificial lamb bled. The spirit was set free, over all the land and sea, with tongues of flame. Did you not receive humility in those days? I come to carry my children broken by pious hypocrites. The little ones who gathered at my feet, cast off by those who appointed themselves as holy. Be not blind to your own perceived virtue. Compassion is what I require of you. A warm heart, stepping into the light and gently leading the flock from darkne...